


Titanic

by RockyMountainRattlesnake



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Aliens, Flying, Gen, Gift Fic, Real science used for stupid reasons, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockyMountainRattlesnake/pseuds/RockyMountainRattlesnake
Summary: He'd said they didn't fly, and he was telling the truth.To a certain extent.Of course, the truth didn't really account for all the edge cases...(You should read the excellentTime Diveby summerartist first.)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 37





	Titanic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [summerartist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerartist/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Time Dive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21214835) by [summerartist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerartist/pseuds/summerartist). 



> I've been writing a dark, horrifying, twisted story entirely for my own selfish pleasure. 
> 
> So here's something warm, bright, joyful, and a gift. 
> 
> Here's hoping it brightens your day.

The Doctor stepped out into the crisp morning air and took a deep sniff, sighing at the smell. Fresh dewey grass, purple in colour, swayed just beyond the TARDIS’s shields. The atmosphere on this world was far denser than earth’s, and yet with a similar composition and half the gravity. He looked up, through the haze of thick white clouds, and glimpses of this world’s parent planet flashed through the thick clouds. The gas giant smiled down at him, and the Doctor smiled back.

He stepped outside of the TARDIS shields, gasping for a moment before his body adjusted. Uncomfortable to breathe for the first few breaths, but certainly doable for his advanced physiology- oxygen toxicity wasn’t really a problem for his kind.

His human companions were sleeping- hence this little trip. He had a lot on his mind, and there wasn’t much else for it but, well…

He shucked his jacket and hung it on a nearby bush with strange, spiraling branches and purple leaves, spreading his wings and giving them a few experimental flaps.

He didn’t have the muscles for proper hard flaps, but here on this world it felt like he was pushing back against water. A shiver of excitement trembled down his primaries, and he started running.

Wings spread, flapping madly, running as hard as he could, and then a powerful jump-

Downstroke, upstroke, downstroke, and it was happening, he was doing it-

It had been, Rassilon, it had been years. Could a Time Lord fly? Apparently, yes. With the right atmosphere, with the right gravity, his undersized, underpowered wings were more than enough to carry him up into the heavens under his own power.

The Doctor whooped, flapping madly as he climbed higher and higher into the dense sky. The clouds swirling around him brightened as the sun rose over the horizon, a bright yellow glow like Earth’s own. This nameless world wouldn’t be found by mankind for millions of years, and by then it would be a barren, lifeless husk.

Bright song split the sky, deep rumbling notes echoing out over the vast ocean of clouds, and curious, the Doctor flew towards their source. He tumbled and twirled, just enjoying the feeling of being so…so… free. Wind whistled through his hair, his clothes flapped in the breeze, and the thick clouds parted before him.

The music sharpened, and he hummed along with it, curious to see what was making that noise. He flapped madly, cruising up and up towards the sound, bursting up through the top of a cloud and gaping in shock.

Hundreds of feet in the sky swam a giant sturgeon-like creature- dozens of feet long, with a narrow beak and a dozen small eyes, rows of thick plates along the sides of it. A huge tail beat against the thick air to push it forward, its forefins flapping like his wings. He swooped down to gather some speed, diving into the cloud and curving back up to have a better look. The Doctor soared up past the sides of the mighty beast, purple veins snaking up the sides of its body to huge purple sacs that lined the top of its body.

“Bio-hydrogen,” he whispered in awe, stalling out and flapping to keep his altitude. He dove towards the gas-filled bags, pulling up before he smashed headfirst into them. They were incredible- this creature was incredible. A living airship, in a world where the seas were the sky and the sky was the seas.

He flapped madly, circling around, his joyful laughter matched by hundreds of small creatures swirling around him. Wings like manta rays and beaks like birds, with long whiplike tails and dozens of spikey legs underneath, they squawked and squabbled like earth crows. Some of them swooped over him to have a look, while many just landed on the mighty creature’s back. Some of them fed on its blood, some picked off strange red parasites, and still others pecked at the plates to create depressions for them to rest.

A whole world, on the back of a flying fish.

The Doctor followed the Leviathan for some ways, admiring the way it carved through the clouds- he’d need to leave this nameless creature soon, leave it and its magnificent world in the light of their distant golden sun. It had been almost three hours, and Amy and Rory would surely be awake by now.

He speared off from the giant with a big grin, calling out a hearty farewell which the giant fish echoed straight back.

The TARDIS hummed in his mind, pulling him towards her like a nail to a magnet; no matter how far apart they were, he’d always find her. Always. The Doctor dove through the thick swirling clouds to the gloomy surface, building speed and tucking his wings in for a stupid high-speed dive. Flaring the second he broke through the bottom of the clouds, wings snapped out to full length and his weight twisted back up- he curved upwards, laughing with glee and flying a spiral back up to bleed off his speed.

He flapped up to a gentle speed, looking down at his TARDIS a hundred feet below.

And the two humans in face masks looking up at him with wide eyes. 

He landed with a few graceless flaps, his wings flailing violently against the thick, soupy air, and his two companions watched his graceless flop back onto the turf.

Amy, naturally, was speaking long before he’d regained his bearings.

“I thought you said you couldn’t fly!” she spluttered, folding her arms, “and why aren’t you wearing a face mask? The TARDIS wouldn’t let us outside without ours!”

The Doctor grinned, ambling over to the bush and pulling his now-damp coat off it with a showman’s flourish. He folded his wings in and slipped it on smartly, letting them pop out the slits in the back and extend to their full length.

“I did, didn’t I? Not really a lie, I’ll have you know, more…an…omission of certain details. In any atmosphere with a density equivalent to Earth’s and a gravity like yours, flying’s impossible for me, that’s true. But it’s a big old universe, Pond, a big old universe with all manner of planets! So, I suppose that’s a new rule, then. Rule one-and-a-half: I wasn’t lying, I just forgot to mention all the edge cases.” He said brightly, trotting off towards the TARDIS.

“And the masks?” Rory said with some slight concern, “The air’s not poisonous, is it?”

“No, no…just a bit…thick, for your tastes. The TARDIS is just a bit worried about your comfort, that’s all. Anyway! I needed a little break to clear me head. Lots to be getting on with! How about the scarlet cascade? Looks like a blood waterfall pouring out of a skull, actually it’s the biggest river of cherry syrup in the entire universe! It’s brilliant, I tell you!” he babbled, leading his two bemused human companions back onto the TARDIS.

And high above them in the swirling sea of clouds, a mighty beast rumbled an amused farewell

**Author's Note:**

> So I read Summerartist's brilliant little fic and admired her pretty wing art, and I found myself thinking, "hey, even if they can't fly on Earth, that doesn't mean they couldn't fly on other worlds, right?" 
> 
> Some research later I determined that if you redid Saturn's moon Titan to have Earth's atmospheric composition, but the same density (so, 21% oxygen still but just a shitload more of it) and Titan's gravity (14% of Earth's) then assuming the Doctor could generate 9% of his body weight with every flap, it would be very easy for him to fly! 
> 
> Oh yeah: and under those conditions, it would feel like you were about 15m underwater. That's deep, but easily within the operational depths for professional scuba divers. RIP Rory and Amy's eardrums, though. Additionally, I checked: this hypothetical Titan-like moon is at the hairy edge of what's okay for a human to breathe density-wise. I assumed it wouldn't be pleasant for a normal human, hence the masks, and we'll say Time Lords are a little less picky about their atmospheres because it's more fun that way. 
> 
> As for the flying space sturgeon, that too was incredibly well-researched for realsies and not just something I cooked up because I'm going slightly crazy.
> 
> End of lesson! 
> 
> Thanks for the inspiration, Summerartist. And thanks for following along with all my madness. Happy Birthday/Christmas/gift-giving occasion type thing!


End file.
